Usage reporting capable receiver, service usage data server, and method for transmitting consumption data units

ABSTRACT

A system for reporting usage.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/083,126, filed on Sep. 7, 2018, which is the U.S. national phase of International Application No. PCT/US2017/021444 filed Mar. 8, 2017, which designated the U.S. and claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/305,963, filed Mar. 9, 2016, entitled SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR USAGE REPORTING, and U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/362,468, filed Jul. 14, 2016 entitled SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR USAGE REPORTING.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates generally to a system for service usage reporting.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A video service is capable of sending audio, visual, closed caption, application, and other data content to a receiving device. The receiving device typically presents one or more of the audio, visual, closed caption, application, and other data content to the viewer, such as on a television device. In some cases, the viewer would like to use their mobile device, such as a mobile phone, to interact with the video content. However, how to most effectively interact with the audiovisual content on the receiving device using the mobile phone tends to be problematic due to synchronization issues. In one case the viewer may want to receive audiovisual content on a receiver such as a television device. At the same time the user may want to receive adjunct associated content on a second screen, e.g. a mobile device such as a smartphone or a tablet. The content received on the second screen device may be same as alternate content associated with the audiovisual content being received on the television. The user may typically like these two contents be presented on the primary and second screen device in a synchronized manner. In other case the content received on the second screen device may be alternative components (e.g. alternative camera angle) not currently presented on the primary device. The user may typically like these two contents be presented on the primary and second screen device in a synchronized manner. In some cases the term companion device may be used for the second screen device.

The foregoing and other objectives, features, and advantages of the invention will be more readily understood upon consideration of the following detailed description of the invention, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a video system.

FIG. 2 illustrates a data server and a receiver.

FIG. 3 illustrates a consumption data unit.

FIG. 4 illustrates a consumption data message.

FIG. 5 illustrates a logical structure of a consumption data message.

FIG. 6 illustrates a logical structure of a component element of a consumption data message.

FIG. 7 illustrates a component and viewing types.

FIG. 7A illustrates view intervals and components.

FIG. 7B illustrates view intervals, components, and delivery paths.

FIG. 8 illustrates a deviceType attribute.

FIG. 9 illustrates an alternative deviceType attribute.

FIG. 10 illustrates another alternative deviceType element.

FIG. 11 illustrates a deliveryPath attribute.

FIG. 12 illustrates an alternative deliveryPath attribute.

FIG. 13 illustrates another alternative deliveryPath element.

FIG. 14 illustrates a component element.

FIG. 15 illustrates a consumption data message logical structure.

FIGS. 16A-16D illustrate a Java Script Object Notation (JSON) schema.

FIG. 17 illustrates a portion of XML schema.

FIGS. 18A-18C illustrate a XML schema.

FIG. 19 illustrates a consumption data message logical structure.

FIGS. 20A-20E illustrate a Java Script Object Notation schema.

FIGS. 21A-21B illustrate a consumption data message logical structure.

FIGS. 22A-22F illustrate a Java Script Object Notation schema.

FIGS. 23A-23D illustrate a Java Script Object Notation schema.

FIGS. 24A-24E illustrate a Java Script Object Notation schema.

FIGS. 25A-25D illustrate a Java Script Object Notation schema.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring to FIG. 1, a logical architecture of an audiovisual system is illustrated. The system includes a broadcasting system 100 that provides a source of audiovisual (video and/or audio and/or closed caption and/or other data and/or applications) content. The audiovisual content may be provided in any suitable manner and using suitable standards, such as for example, MPEG-2, MPEG-4 or ATSC. By way of example, the broadcasting system may be provided from a broadcasting antenna, a cable, a network based audiovisual source, a compact disk, a hard drive, a digital video disc, and/or an Internet based audiovisual source. The broadcasting system 100 may provide the content through any suitable broadcast network 110. Additionally or alternatively the system includes a broadband server system 105 that provides a source of audiovisual (video and/or audio and/or closed caption and/or other data and/or applications) content. This audiovisual content may be also be provided in any suitable manner and using suitable standards, such as for example, MPEG-2, MPEG-4 or an Advanced Televisions Systems Committee (ATSC) standard. By way of example, the broadband server system may be provided from an Internet or over the top or network based audiovisual source audiovisual source. The broadband server system 105 may provide the content through any suitable broadband network 115. A receiver 120 receives the audiovisual content together with any other data provided with the audiovisual content, such as digital data, data services, or otherwise. The receiver may receive some of the content components from broadcasting system via broadcast network. For example video component may be received in this manner from broadcasting system via broadcast network. The receiver may receive some of the content components from broadband server system via broadband network. For example audio component may be received in this manner from broadband server system via broadband network. The receiver 120, generally referred to as a primary device, is preferably configured to receive the type of content being provided there to. The receiver may be, for example, a television, a laptop, a tablet, a phone, or any other device suitable to present the audiovisual content to a viewer. The receiver may be typically in a user's home. The receiver 120 may be a Usage Reporting-Capable Receiver. The receiver may likewise communicate with another display device 130, generally referred to as a companion device, through a home network 140. In another example the companion device may communicate directly with an outside server (e.g., broadcasting system 100 or broadband server system 105) to receive audiovisual and/or adjunct content. The home network is preferably a wireless or wired type network, such as for example, WiFi, Ethernet, 3GPP, Bluetooth, infra-red, and/or Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP). In some cases the home network may be a local area network. In some cases the primary and companion devices may be inside a user's home. In other cases, the home network may be an office environment. The companion device may include, for example, a mobile phone, a mobile tablet, a laptop, a computer, or other display device. In addition, the receiver may simultaneously communicate with a plurality of companion devices 130. Additionally one companion device may communicate simultaneously with multiple primary devices 120. In some examples the primary device may be called a first screen device. In some examples the companion device may be called a second screen device. The terms primary device and first screen device and receiver may be used interchangeably. The terms second companion device and second screen device may be used interchangeably.

The primary device 120 may be capable of providing information to the companion device 130. In addition, the companion device 130 may provide information to the primary device 120. The broadcasting system 100 may be capable of providing information to the receiver 120. In addition, the receiver 120 may provide information to the broadcasting system 100. The broadcasting system 100 may be capable of providing information to the companion device 130. In addition, the companion device 130 may provide information to the broadcasting system 100. The broadband server system 105 may be capable of providing information to the receiver 120. In addition, the receiver 120 may provide information to the broadband server system 105. The broadband server system 105 may be capable of providing information to the companion device 130. In addition, the companion device 130 may provide information to the broadband server system 105. The information may include, for example, audio and/or visual and/or data content and/or closed caption and/or applications.

In many environments it is desirable for the receiver 120 and/or companion device 130 to monitor the usage of audio-visual content consumed by the user and provide information related to the consumption of the audio-visual content to the broadcasting system 100 and/or the broadband server system 105. In many environments it is desirable for the receiver 120 and/or companion device 130 to monitor the usage of data content by the user and provide information related to the consumption of the data content to the broadcasting system 100 and/or the broadband server system 105. By way of example, the broadcasting system 100 may include a broadcasting server and/or a data server. By way of example, the receiver 120 and/or companion device 130 may be a usage reporting capable receiver. In another example the broadband server system 105 may include a broadband server and/or a data server.

Referring to FIG. 2, the system may be generalized as a service usage data server 200 that provides audio-visual content together with auxiliary data, if desired, and a usage reporting capable receiver 210 that provides data to the data server 200. In general, the receiver 210 manages functions related to service consumption data collection, storage, and/or transmission to the data server 200. In general, the data server 200 in addition to the capability of providing audio-visual-data services, include data gathering agents and usage report generation. The data server 200 may include one or more individual servers, as desired.

Referring to FIG. 3, the fundamental record that captures consumption information by the receiver 210 may be referred to as a consumption data unit 300. For a streaming audiovisual channel, each consumption data unit 300 identifies an interval during which the channel was viewed 310. Such a consumption data unit (CDU) may include, for example, a channel identifier 320, a time the viewing started 330, and a time the viewing ended 340. If any triggered declarative objects 350, referred to herein as “TDO”, are active during the viewing interval, it may also record the intervals during which the TDOs are active (whether on a primary device or a “second screen” device) 360, including a TDO identifier 370, a time the TDO started being active 380, and a time it stopped being active 390. In some cases a triggered declarative object (TDO) may be an application. In another case a triggered declarative object may be a webpage or a resource accessed via a uniform resource locator (URL).

For a stand-alone non-real time (NRT) service, each CDU may capture an interval during which the service was selected. Such a CDU may include a service identifier, a time the interval started, a time the interval ended, and identifiers of the NRT content items presented during the interval.

For streaming services and stand-alone NRT services, events logged into a CDU may correspond to usage intervals of no less than X seconds (or other suitable time). For TDO activity, events logged into a CDU may correspond to usage intervals of no less than Y seconds. Thus, if an audio-visual (AV) channel or NRT service remains selected for less than X seconds, as an example, that event is not reported, and if a TDO is active for less than Y seconds, as an example, that event is not reported. The precision and accuracy of start times and end times in the CDUs should be within Z second(s). In an example case the value of X may be 10 seconds, value of Y may be 5 seconds and value of Z may be 1 second.

Referring to FIG. 4, the fundamental data structure used to transmit CDUs from the receiver 210 to the data server 200 may be referred to as a consumption data message 400. A content data message (CDM) may contain data for a single service, or it may contain data for multiple services in the case that data for multiple services is being reported to the same data server.

The CDM may be hierarchically divided into three parts to reduce the amount of data that is transmitted:

The first part contains a “Report Header” fields 410 that are common to all virtual channels and services and all consumption data. This part is preferably sent only once in the transmission session.

The second part contains “Service Identifier” fields 420 that are common to all consumption data associated with a single virtual channel or NRT service. This part is preferably sent once for each channel or service included in the report.

The third part contains the individual consumption data records 430. This part is preferably sent once for each time interval when an audio-visual channel is being viewed or an NRT service is selected.

A CDM may be an Extensible Markup Language (XML) document containing a “CDM” root element that conforms to the definition in the XML schema that has namespace http://www.atsc.org/XMLSchemas/iss-cdm-1 (as an example).

Referring to FIG. 5, an exemplary logical structure is illustrated for a CDM 500. This consists of elements and attributes with their cardinality, data type used for representing the elements and attributes and their description.

A protocol Version field 510 contains the major and minor protocol versions of the syntax and semantics of the CDM 500, coded as hexadecimal values each in the range 0x0 to 0xF. The major protocol value may be in the four most significant bits of the field. A change in the major version level indicates a non-backward-compatible level of change. The initial value of this field may be 0. The value of this field may be incremented by one each time the structure of the CDM is changed in a non-backward compatible manner from a previous major version. The second number is the file minor version, which may represent the minor version of the syntax and semantics of the CDM. A change in the minor version level for each value of the first number may indicate a backward-compatible level of change within that major version. The initial value is 0. The value of this field may be incremented by one each time the structure of the CDM is changed in backward-compatible manner from a previous minor change (within the scope of a major revision).

An AVChannel element 520 contains the list of zero or more elements describing activity intervals based on content delivered continuously.

A channelNum 522 is a 16-bit hexBinary field that may contain major and minor channel numbers. If these numbers are not determinable, the value may be set to 0xFFFF.

A serviceType 524 is a value of the field service_type that is (or was—for time shifted content) present in a virtual channel table for the instance being reported.

A ViewInterval 530 is one or more periods of display of content for the corresponding channelNum 522.

A startTime 532 is a dateTime computed from a coordinated universal time (UTC) seconds count at the beginning of the event. An interval may begin when display of the content begins.

An endTime 534 is a dateTime computed from the UTC seconds count at the end of the event. An interval may end when display of the content ends.

An usageType 536 is an unsigned integer denoting the class of usage. The usageType 536 may be defined as follows:

1—Full: content on main screen (no picture in picture).

2—PIP active: content on main screen with picture in picture activated, no change in main frame size.

3—PIP use: content on the ‘small’ picture in picture.

4—Other/Obscured: user caused content under the control of this standard's provisions to be rendered in less than the full frame of the device (such as activating a web session). This includes the potential of user controlling the frame size (such as squeeze with side or top bars).

5 to 99—Reserved.

This does not reflect any declarative object (DO) presence or absence, as presence and duration of each DO is reported explicitly within each ViewInterval 530.

A timeShift 538 is an unsigned integer 0 or 1, with 1 indicating that the content has been time shifted.

A viewStartTime 540 is a dateTime computed from the UTC seconds count at the beginning of the event. An interval may end when display of the content begins.

A viewEndTime 542 is a dateTime computed from the UTC seconds count at the end of the event. An interval may end when display of the content ends.

A DOInterval 550 is the interval for each active declarative object.

A doId 552 is a string representing an identifier for the declarative object for this reporting record. This may contain the c=term of contentID.

A startTime 554 is a dateTime computed from the UTC seconds count at the beginning of the event. An interval may begin when display of the content begins. The value may not be less than the value of startTime 532 of this ViewInterval 530 instance.

An endTime 556 is a dateTime computed from the UTC seconds count at the end of the event. An intervals may end when display of the content ends. The value may not be greater than the value of endTime 534 of this ViewInterval 530 instance.

A NRTService 560 element contains the list of zero or more elements describing rendering of previously obtained files.

A serviceID 570 is a 16-bit hexBinary field that may contain a service_id or files, or 0xFFFF for rendering periods for any other files from any other source.

A NRTInterval 580 is one or more periods of display of a NRTService 560.

A startTime 582 is a dateTime computed from the UTC seconds count at the beginning of the event. An interval may begin when display of the content begins.

An endTime 584 is a dateTime computed from the UTC seconds count at the end of the event. An interval may end when display of the content ends.

A NRTItem 586 is an interval for each item in the NRT service being rendered.

A contentItemId 590 is a string which may contain the contents of the content_name_text( ) representing the identifier for the item.

A startTime 592 is a dateTime computed from the UTC seconds count at the beginning of the event. An interval may begin when display of the content begins. The value may not be less than the value of startTime 582 of this ViewInterval 530 instance.

An endTime 594 is a dateTime computed from the UTC seconds count at the end of the event. An interval may end when display of the content ends. The value may not be greater than the value of endTime 584 of this ViewInterval 530 instance.

The transmission of the CDMs may be performed in any suitable manner. By way of example, when a broadcaster wants to receive reports, the URL to be used for transmitting CDMs may be provided by the broadcaster via suitable commands. The broadcaster may decide the granularity of the destination addresses, that is, one destination address URL per service, one per a set of services, one for an radio frequency (RF) multiplex, one for a region, and/or one for a nation. This is not necessarily explicitly signaled; rather the same URL may be repeated for each service when the scope is broader than a single service.

When the receiver 210 is prepared to transmit a CDM to a data server 200, it may issue an HTTP PUT request to the server, with the CDM in the body of the request. In another example when the receiver 210 is prepared to transmit a CDM to a data server 200, it may issue an HTTP POST request to the server, with the CDM in the body of the request. In another example When the receiver 210 is prepared to transmit a CDM to a data server 200, it may issue an HTTP PATCH request to the server, with the CDM in the body of the request. In another example, when the receiver 210 is prepared to transmit a CDM to a data server 200, it may use WebSOCKET protocol to communicate to the server, with the CDM in the body of the request. The receiver may maintain a “date of last” time record which is accessible by TDOs for that service. If a week elapses after the last report, the URCR may transmit the CDM for that interval with the CDUs for each covered service, or when the allocated CDU storage reaches a level of 80% full, whichever occurs first.

If a CDM is not successfully transmitted due to a failure mode, it should remain stored, and it should be retransmitted as soon as the failure mode is rectified. The following are some exemplary failure modes:

(1) CDM destination address unavailable;

(2) Incorrect CDM destination address;

(3) HTTP session failure.

The receiver 210 should default to the opt-in state for usage data reporting. The receiver may disclose to the consumer that generic usage data will be reported unless they opt out on a service provider by service provider basis. The Usage Reporting-Capable Receiver (URCR) may report usage data for a given service provider unless the user has opted out of the usage reporting functions for that service provider.

The receiver should permit the user to see what services they have opted into, and to change the state of any opt-in and/or opt-out status. The receiver may retain opt-in and/or opt-out choices through loss of power to the unit. For encrypted services, the user interface offering the opt-in and/or opt-out choice is preferably presented during the service authorization process. For unencrypted services, an authorization session may be used with TDO-controlled questions and answers. The receiver preferably does not directly report any such answers, with such being reported by the TDO.

It was determined that the system should enable service usage measurement and reporting for individual content components within a given service. In this manner, more particularized information may be provided to the data server, which identifies particular characteristics of the available audio, visual, closed caption, data, and application content that are selected or otherwise used by the viewer. In particular, this permits an indication of the component for which the usage report is reported. By way of example, the receiver may identify a particular audio component from a plurality of audio components (e.g., different languages or different tracks) to be reported to the data server. By way of example, the receiver may identify a particular video component from a plurality of video components (e.g., different video views) to be reported to the data server.

Referring to FIG. 6, a Component 600 element may be included in the CDM 500 which provides the usage reporting for individual content components.

A Component 600 has a content component type, role, name, identifier (ID), and time interval information.

A componentType 610 indicates the type of component 600. The values for componentType 610 may be, for example, as follows:

-   -   Value of 0 indicates an audio component;     -   Value of 1 indicates a video component;     -   Value of 2 indicated a closed caption component;     -   Value of 3 indicates an application component;     -   Value of 4 indicates a metadata component;     -   Values 5 to 255 are reserved.

A componentRole 620 may be a string representing the role and/or kind of the component. The role and/or kind is described further below.

A componentName 630 may be a string representing the human readable name of the component.

A componentId 640 may be a string representing component identifier. In some examples this might be a URL which identifies a component.

A startTime 650 may be a dateTime computed from the UTC seconds count at the beginning of the event. An interval may begin when display of this content component begins. The value may not be less than the value of startTime 532 of this ViewInterval 530 instance. This ViewInterval 530 instance may be the parent of this Component element.

An endTime 660 may be a dateTime computed from the UTC seconds count at the end of the event. An intervals may end when display of this content component ends. The value may not be greater than the value of endTime 534 of this ViewInterval 530 instance. This ViewInterval 530 instance may be the parent of this Component element.

By the inclusion of the startTime 650 and the endTime 660, the system may identify the time intervals during which a particular component is being used. As such different components may be used during different time interval inside a viewInterval's time interval.

Referring to FIG. 7, by way of example, a channel and/or service usage report may include a plurality of view intervals. For example, there may be a view interval from 1:45 pm to 2 pm, a view interval from 2 pm to 3 pm, and a view interval from 3 pm-3:15 pm. For the view interval from 1:45 pm to 2 pm there may be a plurality of components included in the usage report therewith, such as component A (i.e., Spanish Audio), such as component B (i.e., English Closed Captioning), such as component G (i.e., main video view). For the view interval from 2 pm to 3 pm there may be a plurality of components included therewith, such as component B (i.e., English Closed Captioning), such as component D (i.e., French Audio). For the view interval from 3 pm to 3:15 pm there may be a plurality of components included therewith, such as component A (i.e., Spanish Audio), component E (i.e., Spanish Closed Captioning), component F (i.e., alternative video view). In this manner, or other structures, the time during which particular components are active may be identified.

Another example usage is now described. Referring to FIG. 7A, by way of example, a channel and/or service usage report may include a plurality of view intervals (View Interval 1, View Interval 2, . . . View Interval N). For example, there may be a View Interval 1 from 5 PM to 6 PM. Details about other view intervals (e.g. View Interval 2, . . . View Interval N) are not shown in FIG. 7A. For the View Interval 1 from 5 PM to 6 PM there may be a plurality of components included in the usage report therewith. Also different components may be active and/or used during different time intervals within the view interval of 5 PM to 6 PM. For example a component J—Audio1 (i.e., English Audio) may be used from 5 PM to 5:30 PM. The receiver may decide (e.g. at the request of the viewer) to use component L—Audio2 (i.e. Spanish Audio) from 5:31 PM to 6:00 PM. Also the component K—Video component may be used from 5:00 PM to 6:00 PM, i.e. during the entire duration of view interval (View Interval 1 which spans 5 PM to 6 PM). Additionally a closed caption component may be only intermittently used during the view interval (View Interval 1 which spans 5 PM to 6 PM). For example component M—closed caption1 (i.e., English Closed Captioning) may be used only for the first 5 minutes i.e. from 5:00 PM to 5:05 PM. Also component N—closed caption1 (i.e., English Closed Captioning) may be used only later during the view interval for the 10 minutes i.e. from 5:45 PM to 5:55 PM.

FIG. 7B further describes different delivery paths may be used for a component during a view interval for a channel and/or service. Referring to FIG. 7B, by way of example, a channel and/or service usage report may include a plurality of view intervals (View Interval 1, View Interval 2, . . . View Interval N). For example, there may be a View Interval 1 from 5 PM to 6 PM. Details about other view intervals (e.g. View Interval 2, . . . View Interval N) are not shown in FIG. 7B. For the View Interval 1 from 5 PM to 6 PM there may be a plurality of components included in the usage report therewith. Also different components (e.g. Component X, . . . Component Y) may be active and/or used during different time intervals within the view interval of 5 PM to 6 PM. Details about other components (e.g. Component X, . . . Component Y) are not shown in FIG. 7B. For example a component K—Video component may be used from 5:00 PM to 6:00 PM, i.e. during the entire duration of view interval (View Interval 1 which spans 5 PM to 6 PM). During this time interval, the component K may be delivered to the receiver via different paths as shown in FIG. 7B. For example from 5:00 PM to 5:37 PM the component K may be delivered via terrestrial broadcast delivery path to the receiver. For example from 5:38 PM to 5:42 PM the component K may be delivered via broadband delivery path to the receiver. This may be due to the unavailability of broadcast path during 5:38 PM to 5:42 PM or due to some other reason such as weaker broadcast signal. For example from 5:43 PM to 6:00 PM the component K may be again delivered via terrestrial broadcast delivery path to the receiver. Further details related to this different delivery paths are described later in relation to FIG. 11, FIG. 12, FIG. 13, and FIG. 14.

With reference to FIG. 7, FIG. 7A, FIG. 7B it should be noted that although the above examples indicate time and time interval as for example “5:00 PM” or “1:45 pm”, the time and time interval may be indicated by other well-known techniques. For example the time interval may be indicated from UTC seconds count at the beginning or end of an event or from beginning or end of some other reference point. Some other similar techniques may be used for time and time interval indication in the above examples and in the semantics of various elements below.

In one example XML schema corresponding to Component element may be as follows:

<xs:element name=“Component”minOccurs=“0” maxOccurs= “unbounded”>  <xs:complexType> <xs:attribute name=“componentType” type=“xs:unsignedByte” use=“required”/> <xs:attribute name=“componentRole” type=“xs:string” use=“required”/> <xs:attribute name=“componentName” type=“xs:string” use=“optional”/> <xs:attribute name=“componentiD” type=“xs:string” use=“required”/> <xs:attribute name=“startTime” type=“xs:dateTime” use=“required”/> <xs:attribute name=“endTime” type=“xs:dateTime” use=“required”/>  </xs:complexType> </xs:element>

In one example JSON schema corresponding to Component element may be as shown below:

 {    “id”: “http://atsc.org/version/3.0/ur/ur_component#”,    “$schema”: “http://json-schema.org/draft-04/schema#”,    “title”: “ATSC component for consumption data message”,,    “description”: “Component indication in consumption data    message”,    “type”: “object”,    “properties”: {    “required”: [“Component”],    “Component”: {     “type”: “object”,     “properties”: {      “componentType”: {       “type”: “integer”      },      “componentRole”: {       “type”: “string”      },      “componentName”: {       “type”: “string”      },      “componentID”: {       “type”: “string”      },   “startTime”: {       “type”: “date-time”      },   “endTime”: {       “type”: “date-time”   }      }     },     “required”: [“componentType”,“componentRole”,“componentID”,“startTime”, “endTime”]     “additionalProperties”: false },     “maxProperties”: 1   }  }

In one example the componentName 630 may be an element instead of attribute and its cardinality may be 0 . . . N and the componentName 630 may have a language attribute which can indicate the name of the component in different languages. For example this attribute when using XML representation may be “xml:lang” attribute.

In one example the Component 600 element may be a sub-element of the ViewInterval 530 element.

In another example the Component 600 element may be sub-element of one or more other elements.

In one example the role and/or kind of the audio component may be one or more of the following.

For an audio component the role may be textual description intended for human consumption regarding role of the component.

Strings which could be used to describe the role of component of the service may include:

-   -   “Complete main”     -   “Music”/“Music-and-effects”     -   “Dialog”/“Dialogue”     -   “Effects”     -   “Visually impaired”     -   “Hearing impaired”     -   “Commentary”     -   “Description”/“Textual description”     -   “Sign”/“Sign language”     -   “Metadata”     -   “Emergency”     -   “Voice-over”     -   “Karaoke”

Any other useful description for a viewer can be provided, as desired.

In one example the role and/or kind of the video component may be one or more of the following.

For a video component the role may be a textual description intended for human consumption regarding role of the component.

Strings which could be used to describe the role of video component of the service may include:

-   -   “Primary video”     -   “Alternative camera view”     -   “Other alternative video component”     -   “Sign language inset”     -   “Follow subject video”     -   “3D video left/right view”     -   “3D video depth information”     -   “Part of video array <x,y> of <n,m>”     -   “Follow-Subject metadata”

Any other useful description for a viewer can be provided.

In one example the role and/or kind of the closed caption component may be one or more of the following.

For a closed caption component the role may be a textual description intended for human consumption regarding role of the component.

Strings which could be used to describe the role of video component of the service may include:

-   -   “Normal”     -   “Easy reader”

Any other useful description for a viewer can be provided.

In one example the role and/or kind of the application component may be one or more of the following.

For an application component the role may be a textual description intended for human consumption regarding role of the component.

Strings which could be used to describe the role of video component of the service may include:

-   -   “On Demand”     -   “Start-over”     -   “Companion-Screen”

Any other useful description for a viewer can be provided.

In some example the data type “unsignedByte” may instead be represented by the data type “hexBinary”

In some examples instead of values 5 to 255 being reserved values 5 to 99 (or some other number) may be reserved.

In some examples instead of values 5 to 255 being reserved values 4 to 255 (or some other number) may be reserved.

In some examples instead of values 5 to 255 being reserved values 4 to 99 (or some other number) may be reserved.

In other examples the cardinality of some of the elements may be changed. For example cardinality may be changed from “1” to “1 . . . N” or cardinality may be changed from “1” to “0 . . . N” or cardinality may be changed from “1” to “0 . . . 1” or cardinality may be changed from “0 . . . 1” to “0 . . . N” or cardinality may be changed from “0 . . . N” to “0 . . . 1”.

In other examples some of the elements could instead be signaled as attributes.

In other examples some of the attributes could instead be signaled as elements.

In other examples some of the required elements may be changed to optional elements or vice-a-versa.

In some examples instead of XML some other format e.g. JSON, Comma Separated Value (CSV), Backus-Naur Form (BNF), Augmented Backus-Naur Form (ABNF), and/or Extended Backus-Naur Form (EBNF) may be used for representing the same information conveyed in the XML format.

In alternative examples additional namespace qualifier may be added for an xml element, attributes, and/or type.

In another example a different name may be used for an element or attribute. For example instead of “componentRole” the element may be called “caR” or “caRole” or something else.

It was determined that the system should enable service usage measurement and reporting for the device (e.g., viewing device) the content is being consumed on within a given service. In this manner, more particularized information may be provided to the data server, which identifies a particular device (or characteristics thereof or logical role thereof) of audio-visual content (including data, applications) that are selected or otherwise used by the viewer. In particular, this permits an indication of the device for which the usage report is reported. In addition, it is also desirable to indicate whether the content is being consumed using a primary device and/or a companion device.

It is desirable to indicate a “presentation device type” which indicates if the content is consumed on a primary device (PD) or a companion device (CD). It should be noted that primary device or a companion device are logical roles.

Referring to FIG. 8, one technique to indicate if the content is consumed on a primary device or a companion device is using a Boolean data type for the device type indication.

For example, a deviceType value of 0 indicates content is presented on primary device. For example, a deviceType value of 1 indicates the content is presented on companion device.

In one example the deviceType maybe a sub-element or attribute of an element of CDM illustrated in FIG. 5. In one example the deviceType may be an attribute of ViewInterval element illustrated in FIG. 5.

In one example XML schema corresponding to deviceType element may be as follows:

-   -   <xs:element name=“deviceType” type=“xs:boolean” minOccurs=“1”/>

In another example XML schema corresponding to deviceType attribute may be as follows:

-   -   <xs:attribute name=“deviceType” type=“xs:boolean”         minOccurs=“1”/>

In one example JSON schema corresponding to deviceType element may be as follows:

  {  “id”: “http://atsc.org/version/3.0/ur/ur_deviceType#”,  “$schema”: “http://json-schema.org/draft-04/schema#”,  “title”: “ATSC device type for consumption data message”,  “description”: “device type indication in consumption data message”,  “type”: “object”,  “properties”: {  “required”: [“CDM”],  “CDM”: {    “type”: “object”,    “properties”: {     “deviceType”: {       “type”: “boolean”     }     }   },   “required”: [“deviceType”]   “additionalProperties”: false {,   “maxProperties“: 1 }

Referring to FIG. 9, one technique to indicate if the content is consumed on a primary device or a companion device is using an integer and/or unsigned byte data type for the device type indication. This can allow device types other than primary device and companion device to be indicated in future using the device type indication reserved values.

For example, a deviceType value of 0 indicates content is presented on primary device. For example, a deviceType value of 1 indicates the content is presented on companion device. Values 2 to 255 may be reserved.

In one example the deviceType maybe a sub-element or attribute of an element of CDM element illustrated in FIG. 5. In one example the deviceType may be an attribute of ViewInterval element illustrated in FIG. 5.

In one example XML schema corresponding to deviceType element may be as follows:

 <xs:element name=“deviceType” type=“xs:unsignedByte” minOccurs=“1”/>

In another example XML schema corresponding to deviceType attribute may be as follows:

 <xs:attribute name=“deviceType” type=“xs:unsignedByte” minOccurs=“1”/>

In one example JSON schema corresponding to deviceType element may be as shown below:

{   “id”: “http://atsc.org/version/3.0/ur/ur_deviceType#”,   “$schema”: “http://json-schema.org/draft-04/schema#”,   “title”: “ATSC device type for consumption data message”,   “description”: “device type indication in consumption data message”,   “type”: “object”,   “properties”: {   “required”: [“CDM”],   “CDM”: {    “type”: “object”,    “properties”: {     “deviceType”: {      “type”: “integer”     }     }    },    “required”: ]“deviceType”]    “additionalProperties”: false {,    “maxProperties”: 1  } }

In one example instead of “type”: “integer”, “type”: “number” may be used.

Referring to FIG. 10, one technique to indicate if the content is consumed on a primary device or a companion device also includes time interval information with the device type indication.

A DeviceType 900 indicates a device type for the content presentation.

For example, a dev 910 with a value of 0 indicates content is presented on primary device. For example, a dev 910 with a value of 1 indicates the content is presented on companion device.

A startTime 920 includes a dateTime computed from the UTC seconds count at the beginning of the event. An interval may begin when display, presentation, and/or consumption of the content begins on the device indicated by the value of dev attribute. The value may not be less than the value of startTime 532 of this ViewInterval 530 instance. This ViewInterval 530 instance may be the parent of this Component element.

An endTime 930 includes a dateTime computed from the UTC seconds count at the end of the event. An interval may end when display, presentation, and/or consumption of the content ends on the device indicated by the value of dev attribute. The value may not be greater than the value of endTime 534 of this ViewInterval 530 instance. This ViewInterval 530 instance may be the parent of this Component element.

In one example the DeviceType maybe a sub-element of CDM element illustrated in FIG. 5. In one example the DeviceType may be a sub-element of ViewInterval element illustrated in FIG. 5.

In one example XML schema corresponding to deviceType element may be as follows:

<xs:element name=“Devicetype” minOccurs=“0” maxOccurs=“unbounded”>   <xs:complexType>     <xs:attribute name=“dev” type=“xs:unsignedByte”     use=“required”/>     <xs:attribute name=“startTime” type=“xs:dateTime” use=“required”/>     <xs:attribute name=“endTime” type=“xs:dateTime” use=“required”/>     </xs:complexType> </xs:element>

In one example JSON schema corresponding to DeviceType element may be as shown below:

{   “id”: “http://atsc.org/version/3.0/ur/ur_deviceType#”,   “$schema”: “http://json-schema.org/draft-04/schema#”,   “title”: “ATSC device type for consumption data message”,,   “description”: “device type indication in consumption data message”,   “type”: “object”,   “properties”: {   “required”: [“DeviceType”],   “DeviceType”: {    “type”: “object”,    “properties”: {     “dev”: {      “type”: “integer”     },  “startTime”: {      “type”: “date-time”     },  “endTime”: {      “type”: “date-time”  }     }    },    “required”: [“dev”,“startTime”,“endTime”]    “additionalProperties”: false },    “maxProperties”: 1  } }

In an alternative example, information about the device type on which content is viewed may be indicated by extending the usage type field (e.g. @usageType illustrated in FIG. 5). In this example instead of or in addition to indication of device type the content is being consumed on, the usage type field as illustrated in FIG. 5 may be extended. The usage type (attribute @usageType) has defined values which allow indication of usage of content on main screen (no picture in picture), content on main screen with picture in picture activated with no change in main frame size, content on the small picture in picture (PIP), and/or user caused content to be rendered in less than full frame of the device.

In some cases, a viewer is watching main content or associated content on a companion device. As a result following usage types may be included, if desired:

Main content (same as content on primary device) on companion device;

Alternative content on companion device.

In one example these could be defined values as follows. This may be done by adding these in semantics of (@usageType as illustrated in FIG. 5)

5—Main content (same as content on primary device) on companion device

6—Alternative content on companion device

In another example other values may be assigned to the above usage types.

It was determined that the system should enable service usage measurement and reporting for the delivery path and/or distribution path that content is being consumed on within a given service. In this manner, more particularized information may be provided to the data server, which identifies a particular delivery path and/or distribution path of audio-visual content (including data, applications) that are selected or otherwise used by the viewer. In particular, this permits an indication of the delivery path and/or distribution path for which the usage report is reported. In addition, it is also desirable to indicate whether the delivery path and/or distribution path refers to a primary device and/or a companion device. The path may be broadband and/or wireless connectivity for the content being used, which may change during the usage of such content. As an example a receiver may receive video component via broadcast network. At some point in time due to for example weather change the broadcast signal may waken and the receiver may switch to getting the video component via broadband network. When the broadcast signal becomes strong again, the receiver may switch back to getting the video component from the broadcast network. In another use case the receiver may be getting a video component via broadcast network and getting audio component in a alternative language via broadband network. Moreover, the usage reporting may be related to ‘real-time’ consumption, time-shifted consumption, and/or on-demand consumption.

Referring to FIG. 11, a “deliveryPath” indicator element may be included. For example, the “deliveryPath” indicator element may be a Boolean data type

For example, a deliveryPath with a value of 0 indicates terrestrial broadcast delivery. For example, a deliveryPath with a value of 1 indicates broadband delivery. Other name such as “broadcast delivery” or “broadcast network” may be used instead of “terrestrial broadcast delivery”.

In one example the deliveryPath attribute may be an attribute of ViewInterval element as illustrated in FIG. 5.

In one example the deliveryPath maybe a sub-element or attribute of an element of CDM element as illustrated in FIG. 5.

In one example XML schema corresponding to deliveryPath element may be as shown below:

-   -   <xs:element name=“deliveryPath” type=“xs:boolean”         minOccurs=“1”/>

In one example XML schema corresponding to deliveryPath attribute may be as shown below:

-   -   <xs:attribute name=“deliveryPath” type=“xs:boolean”         minOccurs=“1”/>

In one example JSON schema corresponding to deliveryPath element may be as follows:

}   “id”: “http://atsc.org/version/3.0/ur/ur_deliveryPath#”,   “$schema”: “http://json-schema.org/draft-04/schema#”,   “title”: “ATSC delivery path for consumption data message”,  “description”: “Delivery path indication in consumption data message”,   “type”: “object”,   “properties”: {   “required”: [“CDM”],   “CDM”: {    “type”: “object”,    “properties”: {     “deliveryPath”: {      “type”: “boolean”     } }    },    “required”: [“deliveryPath”]    “additionalProperties”: false },    “maxProperties”: 1  } }

Referring to FIG. 12, one technique to indicate delivery path is using an integer and/or unsigned byte data type for the delivery path indication. This can allow delivery paths other than terrestrial broadcast delivery and broadband delivery to be indicated in future using the device type indication reserved values.

For example, a deliveryPath with a value of 0 indicates terrestrial broadcast delivery. For example, a deliveryPath value of 1 indicates broadband delivery. For example, a deliveryPath value of 2 indicates local delivery on home network. For example, a deliveryPath value of 3 to 255 may be reserved.

In an alternative example, a deliveryPath with a value of 2 indicates delivery (of continuous component) from a primary device (PD) to companion device (CD) on a network.

In one example the deliveryPath attribute may be an attribute of ViewInterval element as illustrated in FIG. 5.

In one example the deliveryPath maybe a sub-element or attribute of an element of CDM element as illustrated in FIG. 5.

In one example XML schema corresponding to deliveryPath element may be as shown below:

<xs:element name=“deliveryPath” type=“xs:unsigned Byte” minOccurs=“1”/>

In one example XML schema corresponding to deliveryPath attribute may be as shown below:

<xs:attribute name=“deliveryPath” type=“xs:unsigned Byte” minOccurs=“1”/>

In one example JSON schema corresponding to deliveryPath element may be as shown below:

{   “id”: “http://atsc.org/version/3.0/ur/ur_deliveryPath#”,   “$schema”: “http://json-schema.org/draft-04/schema#”,   “title”: “ATSC delivery path for consumption data message”,  “description”: “Delivery path indication in consumption data message”,   “type”: “object”,   “properties”: {   “required”: [“CDM”],   “CDM”: {    “type”: “object”,    “properties”: {     “deliveryPath”: {      “type”: “unsignedByte”     }     }    },    “required”: [“deliveryPath”]    “additionalProperties”: false },    “maxProperties”: 1  } }

Referring to FIG. 13, one technique for the delivery path indication may include time interval information with the delivery path indication. Since the delivery path may change during a view interval (viewInterval element as illustrated in FIG. 5), the time interval information may be indicated as this may be beneficial in knowing component hand off.

The DeliveryPath 1200 may be used for the content.

For example, the pathType 1210 with a value of 0 indicates terrestrial broadcast delivery. For example, the pathType 1210 with a value of 1 indicates broadband delivery. For example, the pathType 1210 with a value of 2 indicates local delivery on the network. For example, the pathType 1210 values of 3 to 255 are reserved.

In an alternative example, the pathType value of 2 indicates delivery (of continuous component) from a primary device (PD) to companion device (CD) on home network.

A startTime 1220 with a dateTime is computed from the UTC seconds count at the beginning of the event. An interval may begin when the delivery of content begins on the path indicated by the value of pathType attribute. The value may not be less than the value of startTime attribute of this ViewInterval instance.

An endTime 1230 with a dateTime computed from the UTC seconds count at the beginning of the event. An interval may end when the delivery of content ends on the path indicated by the value of pathType attribute. The value may not be greater than the value of endTime attribute of this ViewInterval instance.

In one example the DeliveryPath a sub-element of ViewInterval element as illustrated in FIG. 5.

In one example the DeliveryPath maybe a sub-element of CDM element as illustrated in FIG. 5.

In one example XML schema corresponding to deviceType element may be as shown below:

<xs:element name=“DeliveryPath” minOccurs=“0” maxOccurs=“unbounded”>   <xs:complexType>   <xs:attribute name=“pathType” type=“xs:unsignedByte”   use=“required”/>   <xs:attribute name=“startTime” type=“xs:dateTime” use=“required”/>   <xs:attribute name=“endTime” type=“xs:dateTime” use=“required”/> </xs:complexType> </xs:element>

In one example JSON schema corresponding to DeliveryPath element may be as shown below:

{   “id”: “http://atsc.org/version/3.0/ur/ur_DeliveryPath#”,   “$schema”: “http://json-schema.org/draft-04/schema#”,   “title”: “ATSC delivery path for consumption data message”,,   “description”: “Delivery path indication in consumption data   message”,   “type”: “object”,   “properties”: {   “required”: [“DeliveryPath”],   “DeliveryPath”: {    “type”: “object”,    “properties”: {     “pathType”: {      “type”: “integer”     },  “startTime”: {      “type”: “date-time”     },  “endTime”: {      “type”: “date-time”     } }    },    “required”: [“pathType”,“startTime”,“endTime”]    “additionalProperties”: false },    “maxProperties”: 1  } }

Referring to FIG. 14, in an additional example the component usage report information may be further augmented by inclusion of delivery path for each component. In this manner, it is easier to identify when different components are delivered using different paths. In one case this may be indicated as shown below.

A component 1300 type, role, name, ID and time interval information.

A componentType 1305 type of component is indicated as follows:

A componentType 1305 with a value of 0 indicates an audio component.

A componentType 1305 with a value of 1 indicates a video component.

A componentType 1305 with a value of 2 indicated a closed caption component.

A componentType 1305 with a value of 3 indicates an application component.

A componentType 1305 with a value of 4 indicates a metadata component.

A componentType 1305 with values 5 to 255 are reserved.

A componentRole 1310 may be a string representing the role or kind of the component.

A componentName 1315 may be a string representing the human readable name of the component.

A componentId 1320 may be a string representing component identifier.

In some examples this might be a URL which identifies a component.

A startTime 1325 may be a dateTime computed from the UTC seconds count at the beginning of the event. An interval may begin when display of this content component begins. The value may not be less than the value of startTime of this ViewInterval instance. This ViewInterval 530 instance may be the parent of this Component element.

An endTime 1330 may be a dateTime computed from the UTC seconds count at the end of the event. An interval may end when display of this content component ends. The value may not be greater than the value of endTime of this ViewInterval instance. This ViewInterval 530 instance may be the parent of this Component element.

A DeliveryPath 1335 may be used for the content component indicated by the parent Component element.

For example, a pathType 1340 may be a value of 0 indicates terrestrial broadcast delivery for the content component. For example, a pathType 1340 may be a value of 1 indicates broadband delivery for the content component. For example, a pathType 1340 may be a value of 2 indicates local delivery on network for the content component. For example, a pathType 1340 may be a value of 3 to 255, are reserved.

In an alternative example, a pathType 1340 may be a value of 2 may indicate delivery (of this continuous component) from a primary device (PD) to companion device (CD) on a network.

A startTime 1345 may be a dateTime computed from the UTC seconds count at the beginning of the event. An interval may begin when the delivery of content component begins on the path indicated by the value of pathType attribute. The value may not be less than the value of startTime attribute of the parent Component element. In an alternative example: A startTime 1345 may be a dateTime computed from the UTC seconds count at the beginning of the event. An interval may begin when the delivery of content component begins on the path indicated by the value of pathType attribute. The value may not be less than the value of startTime attribute of this ViewInterval instance.

An endTime 1350 may be a dateTime computed from the UTC seconds count at the beginning of the event. An interval may end when the delivery of content component ends on the path indicated by the value of pathType attribute. The value may not be greater than the value of endTime attribute of the parent Component element. In an alternative example: An endTime 1350 may be a dateTime computed from the UTC seconds count at the beginning of the event. An interval may end when the delivery of content component ends on the path indicated by the value of pathType attribute. The value may not be greater than the value of endTime attribute of this ViewInterval instance.

In one example the Component element may be a sub-element of ViewInterval element as illustrated in FIG. 5.

The consumption data message is defined as a fundamental data structure used to transmit CDUs from a service usage data client to a service usage data server. A consumption data message may be formatted as Javascript Object Notation (JSON) data instead of as XML data which tends to be more suitable for low bandwidth networks. A URCR may transmit a Consumption Data Message (CDM) to service usage data server as JSON data as per a defined JSON schema.

Additional examples are described further below.

Modifications and extensions of the ATSC A105 Consumption data message for service usage reporting are described further. FIG. 15 shows a logical structure of extended consumption data message (CDM).

With respect to FIG. 15 the additional elements compared to A105 and their semantics are as described below.

Semantics for other elements and attributes as specified below apply.

deviceType: Value of 0 indicates content is presented on a primary device. Value of 1 indicates the content is presented on a companion device. Values 2 to 255 are reserved.

Component: Content component type, role, name, ID and time interval information.

componentType: The type of component is indicated. Value of 0 indicates an audio component. Value of 1 indicates a video component. Value of 2 indicated a closed caption component. Value of 3 indicates an application component. Values 4 to 255 are reserved.

componentRole: A unsigned byte representing the role or kind of the component. In this case the componentRole attribute will be interpreted as follows:

For audio component (when componentType value above is equal to 0) values of componentRole are as follows: 0=Complete main, 1=Music and Effects, 2=Dialog, 3=Commentary, 4=Visually Impaired, 5=Hearing Impaired, 6=Voice-Over, 7-254=reserved, 255=unknown.

For Video (when componentType value above is equal to 1) values of componentRole are as follows: 0=Primary video, 1=Alternative camera view, 2=Other alternative video component, 3=Sign language inset, 4=Follow subject video, 5=3D video left view, 6=3D video right view, 7=3D video depth information, 8=Part of video array <x,y> of <n,m>, 9=Follow-Subject metadata, 10-254=reserved, 255=unknown.

For Closed Caption component (when componentType value above is equal to 2) values of componentRole are as follows: 0=Normal, 1=Easy reader, 2-254=reserved, 255=unknown.

When componentType value above is between 3 to 255, inclusive, the componentRole may be equal to 255.

componentName: A string representing the human readable name of the component.

componentId: A string representing component identifier.

startTime: the dateTime computed from the UTC seconds count at the beginning of the event. Interval may begin when display of this content component begins. The value may not be less than the value of startTime attribute of this ViewInterval instance.

endTime: the dateTime computed from the UTC seconds count at the end of the event. Interval may end when display of this content component ends. The value may not be greater than the value of endTime attribute of this ViewInterval instance.

DeliveryPath: Delivery path used for the content component indicated by the parent Component element.

pathType: Value of 0 indicates terrestrial broadcast delivery for the content component. Value of 1 indicates broadband delivery for the content component. Value of 2 indicates local delivery on home network for the content component. Values 3 to 254 are reserved. Value of 255 indicates unknown delivery path.

startTime: the dateTime computed from the UTC seconds count at the beginning of the event. Interval may begin when the delivery of content component begins on the path indicated by the value of pathType attribute. The value may not be less than the value of startTime attribute of the parent Component element.

endTime: the dateTime computed from the UTC seconds count at the beginning of the event. Interval may end when the delivery of content component ends on the path indicated by the value of pathType attribute. The value may not be greater than the value of endTime attribute of the parent Component element.

In a variant example the componentRole attribute may use data type of String instead of unsigned byte.

@componentRole 1 String Role of the component

In this case the role of the component will be described in String form. Possible String values are described below.

For audio component (when componentType value is equal to 0) allowed values of componentRole are as follows:

“Complete main”

“Music and Effects”

“Dialog”

“Commentary”

“Visually Impaired”

“Hearing Impaired”

“Voice-Over”

“reserved”

“unknown”

For Video (when componentType field above is equal to 1) allowed values of componentRole are as follows:

“Primary video”

“Alternative camera view”

“Other alternative video component”

“Sign language inset”

“Follow subject video”

“3D video left view”

“3D video right view”

“3D video depth information”

“Part of video array <x,y> of <n,m>”

“Follow-Subject metadata”

“reserved”

“unknown”

For Closed Caption component (when componentType field above is equal to 2) allowed values of componentRole are as follows:

“Normal”

“Easy reader,”

“reserved,”

“unknown”

In a variant example the pathType attribute may use data type of String instead of unsigned byte.

@pathType 1 String Type of delivery path used for the content component being consumed

In this case the type of delivery path used for the content component being consumed will be described in String form. Possible String values are described below.

The allowed values for deliveryPath are as follows:

“broadcast” (indicates terrestrial broadcast delivery for the content component)

“broadband” (indicates broadband delivery for the content component).

“local” (indicates local delivery on home network for the content component.)

“reserved”,

“unknown” (indicates unknown delivery path).

In this case JSON schema part for pathType may use enumerations as shown below:

      “properties”:{         “pathType”:{          “enum”: [“broadcast” , “broadband”, “local”, “application”, “reserved”, “unknown”]         } }

In yet another example the pathType may use a data type of String without enumerations. In this case JSON schema part for pathType is as shown below:

      “properties”:{       “pathType”: {           “type”: “string”          } }

JSON schema is described for existing A/105 elements and attributes for service usage report consumption data messages (CDMs). JSON schema is also described for the proposed extensions of A/105 for service usage reporting. In the prior art XML is used for CDMs. It is noted that JSON schema does not allow attributes thus redefinition of various attributes for incorporation into JSON schema. An exemplary JSON schema is shown in FIGS. 16A-16D.

In an alternative example. componentType and componentRole may be described in JSON schema using enumerations as shown below:

“properties”:{           “componentType”:{            “enum”: [ “audio”, “video”, “closed caption”, “application”, “metadata”, “unknown”, “reserved”]           },           “componentRole”:{            “enum”: [ “Complete main”, “Music and Effects”, “Dialog”, “Commentary”, “Visually Impaired”, “Hearing Impaired”, “Voice-Over”, “Primary video”, “Alternative camera view”, “Other alternative video component”, “Sign language inset”, “Follow subject video”, “3D video left view”, “3D video right view”, “3D video depth information”, “Part of video array <x.y> of <n.m>”, “Follow-Subject metadata”, “Normal”, “Easy reader”]           } }

In yet another example XML schema may be used to represent the consumption data messages and/or service usage report.

In this case the component usage report information may be further augmented by inclusion of delivery path for each component. XML schema for the combination of component indication and delivery path indication is as shown in FIG. 17.

The overall XML schema including the proposed extensions is shown in FIGS. 18A-18C.

FIG. 19 shows another logical structure of consumption data message. An exemplary JSON schema for the consumption data message is shown in FIGS. 20A-20E. The schema in FIGS. 20A-20E can apply to the logical structure of consumption data message shown in FIG. 19.

With respect to FIG. 19 the semantics of fields are as described below.

protocolVersion—This field may contain the major and minor protocol versions of the syntax and semantics of the CDM, coded as hexadecimal values each in the range 0x0 to 0xF. The overall protocolVersion may be coded as a concatenated string of the form “0x<major protocol version as hexadecimal digit><minor protocol version as hexadecimal digit>”. A change in the major version level indicates a non-backward-compatible level of change. The initial value of this field may be 0. The value of this field may be incremented by one each time the structure of the CDM is changed in a non-backward compatible manner from a previous major version. The second number is the CDM's minor version, which may represent the minor version of the syntax and semantics of the CDM. A change in the minor version level for each value of the first number may indicate a backward-compatible level of change within that major version. The initial value is 0. The value of this field may be incremented by one each time the structure of the CDM is changed in backward-compatible manner from a previous minor change (within the scope of a major revision).

DeviceInfo—The consumption device information.

DeviceInfo.deviceID—A field that may identify the consumption device identifier. A value of “NOTREPORTED” indicates the consumption device identifier is intentionally not revealed.

DeviceInfo.deviceModel—A field that may identify the consumption device model (e.g. XYZ-NG3400). A value of “NOTREPORTED” indicates the consumption device model is intentionally not revealed.

DeviceInfo.deviceManufacturer—A field that may identify the consumption device manufacturer (e.g. ABC company). A value of “NOTREPORTED” indicates the consumption device manufacturer is intentionally not revealed.

DeviceInfo.deviceOS—A field that may identify the consumption device operating system and version (e.g. iOS 9.0.2, Android 5.0.1). A value of “NOTREPORTED” indicates the consumption device operating system is intentionally not revealed.

DeviceInfo.peripheraIDevice—A field that may identify if the consumption device is an external peripheral (e.g. a ATSC tuner dongle). A value of “NOTREPORTED” indicates that it is intentionally not revealed if the consumption device is external peripheral or not.

DeviceInfo.deviceLocation—An object that may identify the last known location of the consumption device.

DeviceInfo.deviceLocation.latitude—A field that may contain the latitude of the last known device location coded in decimal degrees format (e.g. “[+−]DDD.DDDDD”) as a string. A value of “NOTREPORTED” indicates that the device location is intentionally not revealed.

DeviceInfo.deviceLocation.longitude—A field that may contain the longitude of the last known device location coded in decimal degrees format (e.g. “[+−]DDD.DDDDD”) as a string. A value of “NOTREPORTED” indicates that the device location is intentionally not revealed. In another example instead of “last known” location, the term “current location” maybe used for the semantics of DeviceInfo.deviceLocation, DeviceInfo.deviceLocation.latitude, DeviceInfo.deviceLocation.longitude.

AVService—This element contains the list of zero or more elements describing activity intervals based on content delivered continuously.

serviceID—The value of this attribute may identify the service associated with the usage data in this AVService element, by reference to the userServiceDescription@serviceld attribute associated with this service. userServiceDescription@serviceld is defined in ATSC 3.0 A/331 specification. ATSC A/331 specifies a Candidate Standard for Signaling, Delivery, Synchronization and Error Protection, which is incorporated herein by reference.

In another example the semantics of ServiceID may be as follows:

serviceID—This value of this attribute may identify the service associated with the usage data in this AVService element, by reference to the Service@serviceld attribute in Service List Table (SLT) associated with this service. Service@serviceld is defined in ATSC 3.0 A/331 specification. ATSC A/331 specifies a Candidate Standard for Signaling, Delivery, Synchronization and Error Protection which is incorporated herein by reference.

serviceType—The value of the field SLT.Service@serviceCategory as defined in in ATSC 3.0 A/331 specification that is (or was—for time shifted content) present in the associated service instance being reported.

reportInterval—One or more periods of display of content for this AVService.

reportInterval.startTime—The UTC dateTime at the beginning of the event. Intervals may begin when display of the content begins.

reportInterval.endTime—The UTC dateTime at the end of the event. Intervals may end when display of the content ends.

DestinationDeviceType—An unsigned integer denoting the class of usage or device type (presentation device). Defined values are:

0—Content is presented on a Primary Device

1—Content is presented on a Companion Device

2—Content is sent to a Time-shift-buffer

3—Content is sent to a Long-term storage

4 to 255—Reserved.

ContentID—This field may identify the content associated with this instance of reportInterval.

ContentID.type—A field that is required when ContentId element is included. Two values are defined currently:

“EIDR” indicates a content identification per the Entertainment Identifier Registry Association (EIDR) registry (http://eidr.org).

“Ad-ID” indicates a content identifier per the Ad-ID registry (http://ad-id.org).

Additional content IDs may be supported.

ContentID.cid—A field that is required when ContentID element is included that provides the content identification for this reportInterval element. The type of content identifier may be as given in the ContentID.type attribute. Either an EIDR (34-character canonical form with hyphens) or Ad-ID (12-character canonical form) can be included.

Component—Content component type, role, name, ID and time interval information.

Component.componentType—The type of component is indicated. Value of 0 may indicate an audio component. Value of 1 may indicate a video component. Value of 2 may indicate a closed caption component. Value of 3 may indicate an application component. Values 4 to 255 may be reserved.

Component.componentRole—A unsigned byte that may represent the role or kind of the component. In this case the componentRole attribute may be interpreted as follows:

For audio component (when componentType value above is equal to 0) values of componentRole may be as follows: 0=Complete main, 1=Music and Effects, 2=Dialog, 3=Commentary, 4=Visually Impaired, 5=Hearing Impaired, 6=Voice-Over, 7-254=reserved, 255=unknown.

For Video (when componentType value above is equal to 1) values of componentRole may be as follows: 0=Primary video, 1-254=reserved, 255=unknown.

For Closed Caption component (when componentType value above is equal to 2) values of componentRole may be as follows: 0=Normal, 1=Easy reader, 2-254=reserved, 255=unknown.

When componentType value above is between 3 to 255, inclusive, the componentRole may be equal to 255.

Component.componentName—A string representing the human-readable name of the component.

Component.componentld—A string representing component identifier.

Component.Lang —A string representing component language.

Component.startTime—the UTC dateTime at the beginning of the event. Interval may begin when display of this content component begins. The value may not be less than the value of startTime attribute of this reportInterval instance.

Component.endTime—the UTC dateTime at the end of the event. Interval may end when display of this content component ends. The value may not be greater than the value of endTime attribute of this reportInterval instance.

Component.SourceDeliveryPath—Delivery path used for or the source of the content component indicated by the parent Component element.

SourceDeliveryPath.type—

0—Broadcast delivery (content component is delivered by broadcast)

1—Broadband delivery (content component is delivered by broadband)

2—Time-shift-buffer source (content source is local time shift buffer)

3—Hard-drive source (content source is local hard drive)

4 to 255—Reserved.

SourceDeliveryPath.startTime—the UTC dateTime at the beginning of the event. Interval may begin when the delivery of content component begins on the path or from the source indicated by the value of type attribute. The value may not be less than the value of startTime attribute of the parent Component element.

SourceDeliveryPath.endTime—the UTC dateTime at the beginning of the event. Interval may end when the delivery of content component ends on the path or from the source indicated by the value of type attribute. The value may not be greater than the value of endTime attribute of the parent Component element.

AppInterval—The interval for each active Application.

AppInterval.appld—Application identifier.

AppInterval.startTime—The UTC dateTime at the beginning of the event. Intervals may begin when display of the application begins. The value may not be less than the value of startTime of this reportInterval instance.

AppInterval.endTime—The UTC dateTime at the end of the event. Intervals may end when display of the application ends. The value may not be greater than the value of endTime of this reportInterval instance.

AppInterval.LifeCycle—An unsigned integer denoting the application lifecycle. Defined values are:

1—Downloaded not launched

2—Downloaded and auto-launched

3—Downloaded and user-launched

4 to 99—Reserved.

AppInterval.Tags—Tag string which may relate to the application properties.

In FIGS. 20A-20E schema a JSON for Linked Data (JSON-LD) based extension mechanism is defined by inclusion of a @context keyword. JSON-LD is a format to serialize linked data. The JSON-LD syntax is designed to integrate into systems that already use JSON and provides an upgrade path from JSON to JSON-LD. JSON-LD is primarily intended to be a way to use linked data in web-based programming environments, to build interoperable web services, and to store linked data in JSON-based storage engines. Linked data is a way to create a network of standards-based machine interpretable data across different documents and web sites. It allows an application to start at one piece of linked data and follow embedded links to other pieces of linked data that are hosted on different sites.

In the JSON schema in FIGS. 20A-20E a key (@context) is defined and the current CDM schema in FIGS. 20A-20E is included as “CDM”: “http://www.atsc.org/contexts/3.0/CDM/1” inside the key (@context). The schema is then wrapped inside the key “CDM”.

One example of enabling an extension of CDM in future is by defining a second version of the CDM. In this case, new key and value pairs may be added to the schema, while keeping the old key value pairs for backward compatibility with the schema in FIGS. 20A-20E.

When enabling an extension of the JSON schema in FIGS. 20A-20E, a @context can be included for the new keys and values as:

  “@context”:  {    “CDM2”: “HTTP://www.atsc.org/contexts/3.1/CDM”  }, “CDM2”: {  “type”: “object”,  “properties”: {      “newkeyA”: “valueA”,      “newkeyB”: “valueB”      },  “required”: [“newkeyA”]     }

The new key in this case is “CDM2”.

The new “@context” for the new key “RecoveryFF2” is “CDM2”: “HTTP://www.atsc.org/contexts/3.1/CDM”

In another example, the new keys and values for the schema for the second version of CDM are then:

  “CDM2”: {  “type”: “object”,  “properties”: {      “newkeyA”: “valueA”,      “newkeyB”: “valueB”      },  “required”: [“newkeyA”] }

In another example the @context can be included for version 2 CDM schemes for the new keys and values as:

  “@context”:  {    “CDM2”: “HTTP://www.atsc.org/contexts/3.0/CDM/V2”  }, “CDM2”: {  “type”: “object”,  “properties”: {      “newkeyA”: “valueA”,      “newkeyB”: “valueB”      },  “required”: [“newkeyA”]     }

Thus the schema in FIGS. 20A-20E support future extensibility.

The JSON schemas in FIGS. 20A-20E include the following as part of schema for the object contentID:

    “ContentID”: {      “type”: “object”,      “properties”: {     “oneOf”: [{“type”: {“type”: “string”, “enum”: [“EIDR”]},     “cid”: {“type”: “string”, “pattern”: “{circumflex over ( )}10\\.5240\\/([0-9a-fA-F]     {4}-){5}[0-9A-Z]$”, “minLength”: 34, “maxLength”: 34}},      {“type”: {“type”: “string”, “enum”: [“Ad-ID”]},      “cid”: {“type”: “string”, “pattern”: “{circumflex over ( )}[1-9a-zA-Z]{1}[0-9a-zA-      Z]{10}(H|D)?$”, “minLength”: 11, “maxLength”: 12}},          {“type”: “object”}       ]      }     },   “minItems”: 0  }, .

In this case including {“type”: “object” } as part of the schema provides future extensibility. Including {“type”:“object” } as part of schema for contentID object allows in addition to specifically defined constrained schema syntax for contentID which must obey the schema properties of EIDR or Ad-ID, a free form JSON object for contentID object. The syntax of this object can be defined in future. Thus this supports future extensibility. Current version of receivers can skip past a generic JSON object in this case. Also in another example of usage, schema in FIGS. 20A-20E including {“type”:“object” } inside contentID object can serve as another way of including any different private content id values.

With respect to the schema in FIGS. 20A-20E for CDM, The properties reportInterval, Component, SourceDeliveryPath, and AppInterval are each defined as of “type”: “array”.

Defining reportInterval as an array of objects instead of as a single object allows including multiple usage report data for multiple report intervals within one CDM message. Since CDM is transmitted via HTTP protocol from receiver to server, including multiple report interval data in one CDM allows only one HTTP transaction to transmit data for multiple report intervals to the server. Instead if reportInterval was a “type”: “object”, i.e it was a JSON object instead of array of objects as shown in FIGS. 20A-20E schema, then a separate CDM will need to be created for each different report interval. In this case separate HTTP transactions will be needed to transmit each of these CDMs to the server which is inefficient and can result in higher delay.

Defining Component as an array of objects instead of as a single object allows including information about multiple components within a report interval within one CDM message. Since CDM is transmitted via HTTP protocol from receiver to server, including information about multiple components within a report interval within one CDM message allows only one HTTP transaction to transmit data for multiple components within a report interval to the server. Instead if Component was a “type”: “object”, i.e it was a JSON object instead of array of objects as shown in FIGS. 20A-20E schema, then a separate CDM will need to be created for each different Components within a report interval. In this case separate HTTP transactions will be needed to transmit each of these CDMs to the server which is inefficient and can result in higher delay.

Defining SourceDeliveryPath as an array of objects instead of as a single object allows including information about source delivery paths for each component within a report interval within one CDM message. Since CDM is transmitted via HTTP protocol from receiver to server, including information about multiple source delivery paths for a component within a report interval within one CDM message allows only one HTTP transaction to transmit data for multiple source delivery paths for a component within a report interval within one CDM message to the server. Instead if SourceDeliveryPath was a “type”: “object”, i.e it was a JSON object instead of array of objects as shown in FIGS. 20A-20E schema, then a separate CDM will need to be created for each source delivery path for each component within a report interval. In this case separate HTTP transactions will be needed to transmit each of these CDMs to the server which is inefficient and can result in higher delay.

Defining AppInterval as an array of objects instead of as a single object allows including information about multiple app intervals within a report interval within one CDM message. Since CDM is transmitted via HTTP protocol from receiver to server, including information about multiple app intervals within a report interval within one CDM message allows only one HTTP transaction to transmit data for multiple app intervals within a report interval to the server. Instead if AppInterval was a “type”: “object”, i.e it was a JSON object instead of array of objects as shown in FIGS. 20A-20E schema, then a separate CDM will need to be created for each different app interval within a report interval. In this case separate HTTP transactions will be needed to transmit each of these CDMs to the server which is inefficient and can result in higher delay.

FIGS. 21A-21B shows another logical structure of consumption data message. An exemplary JSON schema for the consumption data message is shown in FIGS. 22A-22F. The schema in FIGS. 22A-22F may apply to the logical structure of consumption data message shown in FIGS. 21A-21B.

With respect to FIGS. 21A-21B the semantics of fields are as described below.

protocolVersion—This field may contain the major and minor protocol versions of the syntax and semantics of the CDM, coded as hexadecimal values each in the range 0x0 to 0xF. The overall protocolVersion may be coded as a concatenated string of the form “0x<major protocol version as hexadecimal digit><minor protocol version as hexadecimal digit>”. A change in the major version level indicates a non-backward-compatible level of change. The initial value of this field may be 0. The value of this field may be incremented by one each time the structure of the CDM is changed in a non-backward compatible manner from a previous major version. The second number is the CDM's minor version, which may represent the minor version of the syntax and semantics of the CDM. A change in the minor version level for each value of the first number may indicate a backward-compatible level of change within that major version. The initial value is 0. The value of this field may be incremented by one each time the structure of the CDM is changed in backward-compatible manner from a previous minor change (within the scope of a major revision).

DeviceInfo—The consumption device information.

DeviceInfo.deviceID—A field that may identify the consumption device identifier. A value of “NOTREPORTED” indicates that the consumption device identifier is intentionally not revealed.

DeviceInfo.deviceModel—A field that may identify the consumption device model (e.g. XYZ-NG3400). A value of “NOTREPORTED” indicates that the consumption device model is intentionally not revealed.

DeviceInfo.deviceManufacturer—A field that may identify the consumption device manufacturer (e.g. ABC company). A value of “NOTREPORTED” indicates that the consumption device manufacturer is intentionally not revealed.

DeviceInfo.deviceOS—A field that may identify the consumption device operating system and version (e.g. iOS 9.0.2, Android 5.0.1). A value of “NOTREPORTED” indicates that the consumption device operating system is intentionally not revealed.

DeviceInfo.peripheraIDevice—A field that may identify if the consumption device is an external peripheral (e.g. a ATSC tuner dongle). A value of “NOTREPORTED” indicates that it is intentionally not revealed if the consumption device is external peripheral or not.

DeviceInfo.deviceLocation—An object that may identify the last known location of the consumption device.

DeviceInfo.deviceLocation.latitude—A field that may contain the latitude of the last known device location coded in decimal degrees format (e.g. “[+−]DDD.DDDDD”) as a string. A value of “NOTREPORTED” indicates that the device location is intentionally not revealed.

DeviceInfo.deviceLocation.longitude—A field that may contain the longitude of the last known device location coded in decimal degrees format (e.g. “[+−]DDD.DDDDD”) as a string. A value of “NOTREPORTED” indicates that the device location is intentionally not revealed.

DeviceInfo.clockSource—An unsigned integer that may contain the source of the time that has been set in the device clock.

0 indicates that—device clock has been set manually by the user

1 indicates that—device clock has been set automatically by a service

As shown in FIGS. 22A-22F the JSON schema for this DeviceInfo.clockSource property may be as follows:

  “clockSource”: {   “type”: “integer”,   “minimum”: 0,   “maximum”: 1  }

AVService—This element contains the list of zero or more elements describing activity intervals based on content delivered continuously.

country—Country code associated with the primary administrative entity under which the value provided in bsid is assigned, using the applicable alpha-2 country code format as defined in ISO 3166-1. ISO 3166-1 is described in the document “ISO: ISO 3166-1:2013 (E/F), “Codes for the representation of names of countries and their subdivisions—Part 1: Country codes,” International Organization for Standardization, 3rd Edition, Nov. 13, 201” which is incorporated herein by reference.

bsid—Identifier of the whole broadcast stream. In another specific example the value of bsid may be equal to the value @bsid for the service in Service List Table of A/331 specification. ATSC A/331 specifies a Candidate Standard for Signaling, Delivery, Synchronization and Error Protection, which is incorporated herein by reference.

serviceID—This value of this field identifies the service associated with the usage data in this AVService element. In another example, the value of serviceID may be equal to the value @serviceld for the service in Service List Table of A/331 specification.

serviceType—This field identifies the type of service associated with the usage data. In another example, the value of this field is set equal to the field SLT.Service@serviceCategory as defined in ATSC 3.0 A/331 specification that is (or was—for time shifted content) present in the associated service instance being reported.

reportInterval—One or more periods of display of content for this AVService.

reportInterval.startTime—The UTC dateTime at the beginning of the event. Intervals may begin when display of the content begins.

reportInterval.endTime—The UTC dateTime at the end of the event. Intervals may end when display of the content ends.

DestinationDeviceType—An unsigned integer denoting the class of usage or device type (presentation device). Defined values are:

0—Content is presented on a Primary Device

1—Content is presented on a Companion Device

2—Content is sent to a Time-shift-buffer

3—Content is sent to a Long-term storage

4 to 255—Reserved.

ContentID—This field may identify the content associated with this instance of reportInterval. This field is required if the ContentID is available to the device.

ContentID.type—A field that is required when ContentId element is included. Two example values are:

“EIDR” indicates a content identification per the EIDR registry (http://eidr.org).

“Ad-ID” indicates a content identifier per the Ad-ID registry (http://ad-id.org).

ContentID.cid—A field that is required when Contentld element is included that provides the content identification for this reportInterval element. The type of content identifier may be as given in the ContentID.type attribute. Either an EIDR (34-character canonical form with hyphens) or Ad-ID (11 or 12-character canonical form) can be included.

broadcastInterval—An interval when content is presented at a particular speed.

broadcastInterval.broadcastStartTime—The UTC dateTime on the broadcast timeline at the beginning of the interval when content is presented at a particular speed indicated by broadcastInterval.speed.

broadcastInterval.broadcastEndTime—The UTC dateTime on the broadcast timeline at the end of the interval when content is presented at a particular speed indicated by broadcastInterval.speed.

broadcastInterval.speed—A floating point number that indicates the playback speed with the value:

=0—indicates paused playback

>0—indicates forward playback at the indicated speed. The value 1 indicates a playback at the normal speed, the value greater than 1 indicates fast forward playback and the value between 0 and 1 indicates slow forward playback

<0—indicates backward playback at the indicated speed. The value −1 indicates backward playback at the normal speed, the value less than −1 indicates fast backward playback, and the value between 0 and −1 indicates slow backward playback

When broadcastInterval.speed is not included then it is inferred to be equal to 1.

broadcastInterval.receiverStartTime—The UTC dateTime on the receiver timeline at the beginning of the interval when content is presented at a particular speed. Any of the value receiverStartTime may not be less than the value of startTime property of this reportInterval instance and may not be greater than the value of endTime attribute of this reportInterval instance.

In an example, the values of array entries broadcastInterval.receiverStartTime for i in the range from 2 to N (with first array entry having index i equal to 1) may obey one or more of the following constraints:

-   -   The value of i'th array entry         broadcastInterval.receiverStartTime may be equal to the value of         (i−1)'th array entry broadcastInterval.receiverStartTime plus         difference between (i−1)'th array entries         (broadcastInterval.broadcastEndTime-broadcastInterval.broadcastStartTime)         divided by (i−1)'th array entry broadcastInterval.speed if         broadcastInterval.speed is not equal to 0.     -   The value of i'th array entry         broadcastInterval.receiverStartTime may be equal to the value of         (i−1)'th array entry broadcastInterval.receiverStartTime plus         difference between (i−1)'th array entries         (broadcastInterval.broadcastEndTime-broadcastInterval.broadcastStartTime)         if (i−1)'th array entry broadcastInterval.speed is equal to 0.     -   The value i'th array entry broadcastInterval.receiverStartTime         may not be less than the value of (i−1)'th array entry         broadcastInterval.receiverStartTime. Thus the successive array         entries broadcastInterval.receiverStartTime may be sent in         monotonic non-decreasing order.     -   The value of 1st array entry broadcastInterval.receiverStartTime         may be equal to the value reportInterval.StartTime.

1 to N array entries for receiver timeline indicated by broadcastInterval.receiverStartTime may span entire reportInterval period from reportInterval.startTime to reportInterval.endTime in a non-overlapping manner.

The above constraints on receiverStartTime provide a benefit that usage reporting capable receiver reports the playback information for the entire reportInterval. Since the receiverStartTime represents a date-time on the receiver timeline within the reportInterval—between reportInterval.startTime and reportInterval.endTime, it is important to conform to these constraints when creating consumption data messages. Otherwise the usage report information may be incomplete or otherwise difficult to process by a device. If entire reportInterval period from reportInterval.startTime to reportInterval.endTime is not spanned in a non-overlapping manner, then the service usage report will be ambiguous as it will be unknown what playback speed was used for part of this period. Ambiguous and insufficient reports may result in wrong analysis of the usage reports. The described constraints on receiverStartTime have the benefit of remoing the ambiguity.

The properties of broadcastInterval that include properties broadcastStartTime, broadcastEndTime, speed and receiverStartTime are preferably sent in that order. This allows use of broadcastStartTime, broadcastEndTime and speed properties in defining constraints on the values and order or receiverStartTime property.

Since most commonly playback occurs at normal playback speed, the broadcastInterval's speed property is made optional and when it is not present it is inferred to be equal to 1 which indicates normal playback speed. Since the consumption data message reports are sent over network from a usage reporting capable receiver to a service usage data gathering server, not including the speed property for broadcastInterval and instead inferring it has a benefit of reducing the amount of transmitted data.

As shown in FIGS. 22A-22F the JSON schema for the broadcastInterval property may be as follows:

  “broadcastInterval”: {      “type”: “array”,      “items”: {       “type”: “object”,       “properties”: {        “broadcastStartTime”: {         “type”: “string”,         “format”: “date-time ”        },        “broadcastEndTime”: {         “type”: “string”,         “format”: “date-time ”        },        “speed”: {“type”: “number”},        “receiverStartTime”: {         “type”: “string”,         “format”: “date-time ”        }       },       “required”: [        “receiverStartTime”,        “broadcastStartTime”,        “broadcastEndTime”       ]      }     }

Defining broadcastInterval as an array of objects instead of as a single object allows including multiple broadcast interval data within one CDM reportInterval related message. This may be beneficial if different playback speeds are used during different intervals within one reportInterval. Since CDM is transmitted using the HTTP protocol from receiver to server in some example, including multiple broadcast interval data in one CDM has a benefit of requiring only one HTTP transaction to transmit data for multiple broadcast intervals within one report interval to the server. Instead if broadcastInterval was of a “type”: “object”, i.e it was a JSON object instead of array of objects then a separate CDM will need to be constructed for each different broadcast interval within one report interval. In this case separate HTTP transactions would be needed to transmit each of these CDMs to the server which is inefficient and can result in higher delay in reporting the data.

Component—Content component type, role, name, ID and time interval information. A component is present and may be reported in the Component field only if it is presented on a Primary Device or Companion Device, or sent to a Time-shift-buffer or Long-term storage, as specified in DestinationDeviceType field. A component may not be reported in the Component field if it is not presented on any Primary Device or Companion Device, nor sent to any Time-shift-buffer or Long-term storage.

Component.componentType—The type of component is indicated. Value of 0 may indicate an audio component. Value of 1 may indicate a video component. Value of 2 may indicate a closed caption component. Value of 3 may indicate an application component. Values 4 to 255 may be reserved.

Component.componentRole—A unsigned byte that may represent the role or kind of the component. In this case the componentRole attribute may be interpreted as follows:

For audio component (when componentType value above is equal to 0) values of componentRole may be as defined in ATSC 3.0 A/331 specification in an example.

For Video (when componentType value above is equal to 1) values of componentRole may be as follows: 0=Primary video, 1-254=reserved, 255=unknown.

For Closed Caption component (when componentType value above is equal to 2) values of componentRole may be as follows: 0=Normal, 1=Easy reader, 2-254=reserved, 255=unknown.

When componentType value above is between 3 to 255, inclusive, the componentRole may be equal to 255.

Component.componentName—A string representing the human-readable name of the component.

Component.componentld—A string representing component identifier.

Component.componentLang—A string representing component language.

Component.startTime—the UTC dateTime at the beginning of the event. Interval may begin when display of this content component begins. The value may not be less than the value of startTime attribute of this reportInterval instance.

Component.endTime—the UTC dateTime at the end of the event. Interval may end when display of this content component ends. The value may not be greater than the value of endTime attribute of this reportInterval instance.

Component.SourceDeliveryPath—Delivery path used for or the source of the content component indicated by the parent Component element.

SourceDeliveryPath.type—

0—Broadcast delivery (e.g., content component is delivered by broadcast)

1—Broadband delivery (e.g., content component is delivered directly by broadband by broadcaster)

2—Time-shift-buffer source (e.g., content source is local time shift buffer)

3—Hard-drive source (e.g., content source is local hard drive)

4—Delivery via direct connection (e.g., HDMI)

5—Alternate internet protocol (IP) delivery (e.g., content component is delivered via intermediary)

6 to 255—Reserved.

SourceDeliveryPath.startTime—the UTC dateTime at the beginning of the event. Interval may begin when the delivery of content component begins on the path or from the source indicated by the value of type attribute. The value may not be less than the value of startTime attribute of the parent Component element.

SourceDeliveryPath.endTime—the UTC dateTime at the beginning of the event. Interval may end when the delivery of content component ends on the path or from the source indicated by the value of type attribute. The value may not be greater than the value of endTime attribute of the parent Component element.

AppInterval—The interval for each active Application.

AppInterval—The interval for each active Application.

AppInterval.appld—Application identifier represented as a string. The interpretation of this field is defined by application.

AppInterval.startTime—The UTC dateTime at the beginning of the event. Intervals may begin when display of the application begins. The value may not be less than the value of startTime of this reportInterval instance.

AppInterval.endTime—The UTC dateTime at the end of the event. Intervals may end when display of the application ends. The value may not be greater than the value of endTime of this reportInterval instance.

AppInterval.LifeCycle—An unsigned integer denoting the application lifecycle. Example defined values are:

1—Downloaded and not launched

2—Downloaded and auto-launched

3—Downloaded and user-launched

4 to 99—Reserved.

AppInterval.Tags—Application tag represented as a String. The interpretation of this field is defined by application.

As described previously FIGS. 21A-21B shows a logical structure of consumption data message. An exemplary JSON schema for the consumption data message may be as shown in FIGS. 23A-23D. The schema in FIGS. 23A-23D may apply to the logical structure of consumption data message shown in FIGS. 21A-21B.

With respect to FIGS. 23A-23D the semantics of fields may be as described previously. However the data type for the field “bsid” may use a “string” data type as shown in FIGS. 23A-23D. In this case the semantics of “bsid” may be as follows: bsid—Identifier of the whole broadcast stream. The value of bsid shall be equal to the value @bsid for the service in Service List Table of A/331 coded as a string. When a single unsignedShort value is specified for @bsid for the service in Service List Table of A/331, the value of bsid is the string representation of the unsignedShort. When a list of more than one unsignedShort value is specified for @bsid for the service in Service List Table the value of bsid is the string representation created by space separated list of the unsigned short values. ATSC A/331 specifies a Candidate Standard for Signaling, Delivery, Synchronization and Error Protection, which is incorporated herein by reference.

In another example an exemplary JSON schema for the consumption data message may be as shown in FIGS. 24A-24E. The schema in FIGS. 24A-24E may apply to the logical structure of consumption data message shown in FIGS. 21A-21B.

With respect to FIGS. 24A-24E the semantics of fields may be as described previously. However the data type for the field “bsid” may use a “array” data type of items with “type” of “integer” as shown in FIGS. 24A-24E. In this case the semantics of “bsid” may be as follows: bsid—Identifier of the whole broadcast stream. The value of bsid shall be equal to the value @bsid for the service in Service List Table of A/331 [1]. When a list of more than one unsignedShort value is specified for @bsid for the service in Service List Table those values are indicated by array elements in bsid. ATSC A1331 specifies a Candidate Standard for Signaling, Delivery, Synchronization and Error Protection, which is incorporated herein by reference.

In another example an exemplary JSON schema for the consumption data message may be as shown in FIGS. 25A-25D. The schema in FIGS. 25A-25D may apply to the logical structure of consumption data message shown in FIGS. 21A-21B.

With respect to FIGS. 25A-25D the semantics of fields may be as described previously. However the data type for the field “bsid” may use a “integer” data type as shown in FIGS. 25A-25D. In this case the semantics of “bsid” may be as follows: bsid—Identifier of the whole broadcast stream. The value of bsid shall be equal to the value @bsid for the service in Service List Table of A/331 [1]. When a list of more than one unsigned short value is specified for @bsid for the service in Service List Table the indicated bsid shall be the lowest value among the list of unsigned short values in @bsid for the service in Service List Table. A/331 specifies a Candidate Standard for Signaling, Delivery, Synchronization and Error Protection, which is incorporated herein by reference.

It should be noted that with respect to semantics of “bsid” with respect to FIGS. 21A-21B through 25, the description “identifier of the whole broadcast stream” may instead be replaced with “identifies one or more broadcast streams comprising the service (or services)”.

It is to be understood that the claims are not limited to the precise configuration and components illustrated above. Various modifications, changes and variations may be made in the arrangement, operation and details of the systems, methods, and apparatus described herein without departing from the scope of the claims.

The programs which run on the apparatuses according to the present invention may be programs which cause a computer to function by controlling a central processing unit (CPU) to implement embodiments of the present invention. The programs or information handled by such programs may be temporarily stored in a volatile memory such as a random access memory (RAM) or a hard disk drive (HDD) or a non-volatile memory such as a flash memory, or other memory storage system.

Programs for implementing the functions of the invention may be recorded on a computer-readable recording medium. The functions may be implemented by causing a computer system to read the programs recorded on the recording medium and execute the programs. The “computer system” may be a computer system embedded in the apparatus, and may include an operating system or hardware such as peripheral devices. The “computer-readable recording medium” may be a semiconductor recording medium, an optical recording medium, a magnetic recording medium, a recording medium that dynamically stores the program for a short period of time, and any other recording medium which is computer-readable.

The features or functional blocks of the apparatuses used in the aforementioned embodiments may be implemented or executed in circuitry, for example, an integrated circuit or a plurality of integrated circuits. The circuitry designed to perform the functions stated in the present specification may include a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof. The general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor, or may be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. The above-described circuitry may be a digital circuit, or may be an analog circuit. In a case where an advanced semiconductor technology introduces a new integrated circuit technology for replacing the current integrated circuit, the invention may be implemented using such new integrated circuit technology. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A usage reporting capable receiver for transmitting consumption data units using a consumption data message, the usage reporting capable receiver comprising: a memory and a processor, wherein the processor configured to perform steps of: formatting the consumption data message by using a Javascript Object Notation schema, wherein the consumption data message includes a report interval field and a broadcast interval field representing an interval when content is presented at a particular speed, the broadcast interval field includes (i) a speed field representing a floating point number that indicates a playback speed, (ii) a broadcast start time field representing a date time on the broadcast timeline at a beginning of an interval when content is presented at a particular speed indicated by the speed field, (iii) a broadcast end time field representing a date time on a broadcast timeline at an end of the interval when content is presented at a particular speed indicated by the speed field, and (iv) a receiver start time field representing a date time on a receiver timeline at a beginning of an interval when content is presented at a particular speed, and (i-1)'th speed field is equal to a difference between (i-1)'th array entry of the broadcast end time field and (i-1)'th array entry of the broadcast start time field divided by a difference between i'th array entry of the receiver start time field minus (i-1)'th array entry of the receiver start time field, any of a value of the receiver start time field is not less than a value of a start time property of the report interval field, and any of a value of the receiver start time field is not greater than a value of end time attribute of the report interval field.
 2. The usage reporting capable receiver of claim 1, wherein the speed field is inferred to be equal to one, when the speed field is not included.
 3. A service usage data server for receiving consumption data units transmitted by using a consumption data message, the service usage data server comprising: a memory and a processor, wherein the processor configured to perform steps of: formatting the consumption data message by using a Javascript Object Notation schema, wherein the consumption data message includes a report interval field and a broadcast interval field representing an interval when content is presented at a particular speed, the broadcast interval field includes (i) a speed field representing a floating point number that indicates a playback speed, (ii) a broadcast start time field representing a date time on the broadcast timeline at a beginning of an interval when content is presented at a particular speed indicated by the speed field, (iii) a broadcast end time field representing a date time on a broadcast timeline at an end of the interval when content is presented at a particular speed indicated by the speed field, and (iv) a receiver start time field representing a date time on a receiver timeline at a beginning of an interval when content is presented at a particular speed, and (i-1)'th speed field is equal to a difference between (i-1)'th array entry of the broadcast end time field and (i-1)'th array entry of the broadcast start time field divided by a difference between i'th array entry of the receiver start time field minus (i-1)'th array entry of the receiver start time field, any of a value of the receiver start time field is not less than a value of a start time property of the report interval field, and any of a value of the receiver start time field is not greater than a value of end time attribute of the report interval field.
 4. A method for transmitting consumption data units using a consumption data message, the method including: formatting the consumption data message by using a Javascript Object Notation schema, wherein the consumption data message includes a report interval field and a broadcast interval field representing an interval when content is presented at a particular speed, the broadcast interval field includes (i) a speed field representing a floating point number that indicates a playback speed, (ii) a broadcast start time field representing a date time on the broadcast timeline at a beginning of an interval when content is presented at a particular speed indicated by the speed field, (iii) a broadcast end time field representing a date time on a broadcast timeline at an end of the interval when content is presented at a particular speed indicated by the speed field, and (iv) a receiver start time field representing a date time on a receiver timeline at a beginning of an interval when content is presented at a particular speed, and (i-1)'th speed field is equal to a difference between (i-1)'th array entry of the broadcast end time field and (i-1)'th array entry of the broadcast start time field divided by a difference between i'th array entry of the receiver start time field minus (i-1)'th array entry of the receiver start time field, any of a value of the receiver start time field is not less than a value of a start time property of the report interval field, and any of a value of the receiver start time field is not greater than a value of end time attribute of the report interval field. 